Learn Your ABCs: B for Bince Mulyono

Bince Mulyono, who prefers to be known as Binz, is somewhat of an anomaly among her generation. Now in her mid-50s, Binz has never been married. She has always been more comfortable conversing about work and planning future collaborations, and finds it hard to make small talk. Whether through a string of coincidences or destiny, Binz became a career woman. She climbed ladder after ladder — retail, insurance, corporate — before finally entering the film scene as a site producer under the tutelage of award-winning Indonesian film director Garin Nugroho.

Binz is not someone who leaves a strong impression — unless you pay attention. At a party, you’ll find her sitting closer to the corner, not quite because she’s shy but because she simply prefers to observe: studying the people around her and analysing how they interact with each other. Beneath her calm and gentle demeanour is a remarkable woman with a great sense of adventure and the wisdom to navigate any place she sets her foot in: the jungles of Kalimantan, the dirty alleyways of Jakarta, the bureaucratic offices of Indonesia’s governors, or even the then Tsunami struck villages of Aceh.

I remember meeting Binz for the first time in 2010. She was hosting a screening of Metamorfoblus, her documentary featuring Indonesian rock band, Slank, known for their devoted fan base, explicitly political lyrics, and a long history of drug abuse. When the screening ended, she made her rounds to thank everyone who came to the screening. I could tell she was exhausted but she still had the biggest smile on her face. She greeted every Slank fan who came, shook their hands, and attentively listened to their stories of how Slank had been a big part of their life.

This interview was originally conducted in Bahasa Indonesia and has been translated, edited ,and condensed for clarity. For the original Indonesian transcript, please see below.

Leonie You were not trained in the film industry. How did you become a producer?

BinzI believe everyone has their own path. After graduating from college, I started my career in retail working for Guess and then Benetton. Unexpectedly, I was then offered a position at an international insurance company from Australia. I joined the company and stayed there for 6-7 years until they went bankrupt. After that, I was again, unexpectedly, offered a job at a production house founded by Indonesian director, Garin Nugroho.

My first job in the film industry was to accompany one of the actors, Anjasmara, during the entire shooting period. The only brief I was given was to keep the actor entertained so he’d be agreeable to the shoot timeline, even if it meant shooting until the wee hours of the morning. I’d chat with him all the time and made sure his requests (usually food cravings) were fulfilled. I wasn’t his manager but not quite his assistant either.

My first actual project was organising a film workshop for high school and college students. I had to lead different teams — from the cameraman, the editors, and even the mentors from Institut Kesenian Jakarta (the Jakarta Art Institute) — without prior knowledge of films at all. Back then, all I knew was how to watch and enjoy movies. It was quite nerve-racking. Fortunately, the event was quite successful and Mas (a Javanese term to address someone older, similar to an elder brother) Garin offered me a full-time position as his staff.

I remembered — after I accepted the position — he called me and 2-3 other newcomers to the meeting room and started lecturing out of nowhere. He taught us very basic stuff like what different film genres there are and operational and production processes. He delivered three years' worth of film school education in just one orientation session. And then he immediately sent us to the field.

Leonie Like when you were sent to Aceh?

Binz Yes. The tsunami had hit Aceh in December 2004; right around mid January 2005, Mas Garin asked if I wanted to go to Aceh. I remember the conversation very well. He said, “I’m sending you to Aceh. It’s only for three days. You can help set up the operation, find accommodation, logistics, etc. for the film crew that’s coming.” I was shocked, “Aceh? For three days?” I was scared because the situation had not calmed down yet: earthquakes were still happening and the situation was still quite tense. But I went anyway. As it turned out, my time at Aceh really changed me as a person.

I saw with my own eyes how we can really lose everything in a matter of seconds — people who lived in big houses but still ended up with nothing, people who wore thick gold bracelets but ended up lying dead on the street. Parents lost their children. Children lost their parents.

Binz's first Aceh visit in 2005 following the December 2014 tsunami.

Meeting Jackie Chan and Miss World in Aceh, 2005.

In fact, one of my local crew [members who] had only recently brought his wife to Aceh to meet his parents had also lost his wife and kid. He saw both of them swept away by the water. It was really sad.

Witnessing all that made me realise how insignificant humans actually are — we’re nothing compared to the force of nature. Amidst all the destruction, I also saw what people would describe as miracles. I saw with my own eyes how various houses of worship managed to withstand the earthquakes and the tsunami. Many of them were located at the heart of the settlement that was hit the hardest. Everything else perished but the houses of worship remained, be it mosques, churches, or temples. Whether I wanted to or not, I slowly came to accept the magnitude of God’s power and how, at the end of the day, all religion truly leads to the same creator. Perhaps that’s why I could never grasp how people use religion to easily explain what happened in Aceh. If the tsunami in Aceh was indeed a warning from God, it wasn’t a warning to a specific religion but to everyone.

Leonie You witnessed all that in three days?

BinzWell, the three day assignment was extended to a year. Initially, I only produced short films for the refugees still living on campsites. The objective was to provide entertainment and provide what little comfort we could to the refugees since many of them were distraught and traumatised by the event.

We would prepare a script and ask them to act in the movie. The script was always very short and simple, like learning how to wash your hands properly, prepping a meal, washing clothes etc., so they could easily act out the roles. We’d shoot in the day, edited the raw footage in the evening, and then screen the movie the next day. It was incredible to see the survivors laughing and enjoying themselves even if only for a moment.

You know, Mas Garin never asked if I wanted to stay. He just kept sending more crews and assigning us more projects. I only packed for three days so I was very unprepared. None of the stores were open and I had to ask the Jakarta team to send all my stuff over. They even bought me a new bag because I couldn’t find any here!

In that one year, we travelled to various campsites and were always on the move. It wasn’t always easy to enter those sites. We encountered a few rejections too. The residents were suspicious of outsiders, but it was part of my responsibilities to get us in even when we were rejected.

Filming with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Aceh, 2015.

Leonie And just how did you do it?

BinzDuring my time there, Mas Garin taught me a lot of local wisdom. I used to call him and asked for advice but he would only say, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Since it was custom for women to wear hijabs in Aceh, I began to don a hijab. I wasn’t used to wearing a kerudung so I’d only wear it when I needed to visit locations or meet people and I’d take it off as soon as I got into the car. It was so hot! I’m used to it now but it was really hard then.

Leonie Let me get this straight: you were thrown into ground zero without knowing the landscape and somehow miraculously managed to get connected and find the resources you needed?

BinzWell, you need to ask questions and be creative to get things done. I would visit all the offices, community centres, and whatnot to introduce myself. One time I needed dancers so I stopped by the cultural centre and asked them to come by our office. We didn’t actually have an office then so I had to rush and find rent a space for 40 million rupiah a month to host our contacts and guests when they stopped by. It was through those meetings I ended up hiring my assistant. She was very bright and easy-going. She became my bridge whenever I stumbled into a language barrier. Acehnese have their own accent and dialect and the language bears little resemblance to the Indonesian language. I can understand Malay easily but Acehnese is something I can’t quite grasp even till today.

Leonie Let’s talk about your team. How big was your team in Aceh?

Binz There were 16 of us. I was the only female; the remaining 15 were male.

Aceh Expedition with Nespresso & Jungle Run Production.

Leonie How were the dynamics?

BinzWell, it’s like a mother hen caring for her chicks. One of my editors was almost divorced during his time in Aceh and I had to step in as a third party. His family back in Jakarta needed money urgently but they thought they could only get paid at the end of the project. They fought a lot as a result. I had to scold him for not checking with me before matters got worse, then I [arranged to ] make sure his wife received his pay every month.

During the fasting time, we also often got in trouble because some of the crew members would eat out on the street instead of in the car. I became the middleman and solved any conflicts that arose between the locals and my crew.

Leonie And how did you deal with conflicts that came your way?

Binz If you’re dealing with someone who is explosive and can’t contain their anger, it is always best to keep quiet first. If they rant, just nod and listen. The first words out of my mouth would always be an apology even if we were not at fault. I’ll try to handle the situation calmly and slowly explain the misunderstanding to the other party. Usually, they’ll end up inviting me and the crew to eat dinner at their homes after. Of course, this concept of understanding local wisdom is not something unique to Aceh. I carry this philosophy at the back of my mind and apply it to every situation I find myself in. As a producer, my main responsibility is to ensure that shoots can go on without a hitch regardless of any hiccups that may come up. And in order to do my job well, I had to learn to navigate both street politics and formal bureaucracy.

LeonieStreet politics? Can you elaborate?

Binz [laughs] Welcome to Indonesia. Say you want to shoot in a warehouse in area A. You don’t only need to get permission from the warehouse owner and the local government. You also need to know which street gangster is in charge of the neighbourhood and the parking lot. A month before the actual shoot, I’ll casually walk around the area and drop by nearby warung (coffeeshops) to get information. Then, I’ll invite all the street gangsters, the owners, the local district officials, and the police to a meeting to negotiate a “package” price to shoot in the neighbourhood. I’ll make sure to bring one or two folks from the warung to the meeting too as my back-up.

Leonie It seems you learn on the job with everything you do. Is there anything you learned from your university education that is applicable to the work you do now?

Binz I handle a lot of legal contracts, so you can say that relates to my college education. But, honestly, everything I know, I learned myself or was taught by others on the job. I graduated with a degree in law — criminology, to be exact. I wanted to be a fashion designer but my dad forbade me from attending fashion school. He’d often tell me, “Why did I send you to expensive schools if all you want to be is a seamstress?!” He couldn’t understand the difference between a fashion designer and seamstress; it was all the same to him. He came from a much older generation so the only acceptable professions to him were a doctor, lawyer, or civil officer.

Leonie Do you have any regrets about not following your dream?

Binz That desire to be a fashion designer is still here, but I can’t really design for others, so whenever I design clothes, I only do it for myself. I often buy fabrics and ask a seamstress to sew my designs. Honestly, if I could turn back time, I would beg my dad to send me to fashion school. [But] I don’t really have regrets. Sure, I get frustrated, especially when I see how much the Indonesian fashion scene has grown. Nevertheless, if I look back on my life, I have no regrets.

Shooting with Seahorse (Ghost Fleet) from U.S.A, October 2016.

I like being in the film industry. I like what I do as every project has its own challenges. I get to work with a completely different team in a completely different location. It’s fun! I always learn a lot and end up making friends from all over.

More importantly, I really do believe everyone has their own path. I didn’t even want to take law. It was my last option, one that was suggested to be me by the admin at my high school. I wasn’t sure what to fill for my last option so the staff just casually told me to fill it with law at a university in Solo.

Funnily enough, when I [visited] the campus on my first day, I had a sort of déjà vu. I’d never been to the campus but I felt as if I had been there before. I told my friend, “Hey, I think if we go up this staircase, head to the third floor, and turn right twice, we’ll reach a musholla (musalla).” I saw it in my head like I knew the place. And true enough, when we went up, we found the musholla. I took it as a sign that it was meant to be.

Leonie I take it you believe in nasib (fate)?

BinzYeah. Nasib (fate) and takdir (destiny). [That] there are destinies you can’t change and fate that you can change. I truly believe we can change our fate with prayer. We just don’t know when that fate will be changed.

Bince Mulyono is the second interviewee of Learn Your ABCs, an original series by Public Culture. This interview was originally conducted in Bahasa Indonesia and has been translated, edited ,and condensed for clarity. For the original Indonesian transcript, please see below.Illustrated by Ivana Belianska.

Leonie Tante Binz tidak ada background di dunia perfilman tapi tiba-tiba masuk ke dunia itu. How did you end up as a producer?